


Bittersweet

by Angelily_Viventis



Series: Alan Rickman x Plus-size reader [10]
Category: Alan Rickman - Fandom
Genre: Age Difference, Birthday, Birthday Party, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Comfort, Crying, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Married Couple, Minor Character Death, Older Man/Younger Woman, Size Difference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelily_Viventis/pseuds/Angelily_Viventis
Summary: In the midst of her best friend dying, (Y/N) completely forgot about her thirtieth birthday. Alan helps plan a surprise birthday with the help of (Y/N)'s family.
Relationships: Alan Rickman/Original Female Character(s), Alan Rickman/Reader
Series: Alan Rickman x Plus-size reader [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729954
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Bittersweet

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: these are individual one-shots and function as stand-alone chapters. None of the work in these series follow on each other unless indicated as "Parts".

Alan looks at the date on the calendar on his phone. _Sunday, May 12th._

"Honey, I'm taking Alyson over to Sheila's to visit the cousins for the day. Did you want to come with?" Alan asks as his wife descends from the stairs and into the kitchen area.

She's looking extremely enticing in his navy dress shirt that stops just under her buttocks. Her thick tanned thighs are exposed and Alan is seriously rethinking his plans for today.

"I'll join you guys later in the evening. I'm publishing my article tomorrow and I still need to refine a few things. Plus, Thea is going in for surgery today and I want to call before she goes in," she says while making herself a cup of green tea.

He walks over to his wife and wraps a pair of strong arms around her middle from behind. He squeezes her slightly and he can still smell his cologne on her. He plants a kiss on the base of her neck.

"Don't work too hard. Sheila really wanted to see you today."

"I'll come around," she says as she twists in his arms and runs a delicate index finger over his plump lips.

"You look good enough to eat, Mr. Rickman."

A low growl escapes Alan's throat.

After Alan and Alyson left at 10, (Y/N) left a voice-note to her friend wishing her luck and telling her to answer the phone when she calls.

She had a quick shower and dressed comfortably in slacks and a hoodie. She went downstairs to her study and started working on her laptop. Every ten minutes she would check her phone for new messages from her friend. Every half hour she would try calling, only to be greeted by voicemail.

 _Strange_. Thea's surgery isn't until 2 o'clock and she's usually glued to her phone. She walks over to the window overlooking the street and tries Thea's phone once again. She was about to end the call when she heard the call being answered.

"Hey, T! How are you doing?"

"Hi, (Y/N), it's Mark."

"Oh, hey. Is Thea getting prepped for surgery already?" (Y/N) looks down at her wristwatch. _1 o'clock_.

"Uh, actually, they moved the surgery up to this morning."

"Oh good, how did go? Is everything okay? You sound..."

"She didn't make it, (Y/N)," Mark's voice cracks and he starts to sob uncontrollably.

"No. No. No, that can't be. I jus- I... It can't be true!" Tears start to cloud her vision and she needs to steady herself against her desk.

"It's true. She suf- fered... from cardiac arrest on the... op- operating table," he manages between sobs.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Mark," (Y/N) cries.   
They both take a moment to calm themselves.

"Please let me know if there's anything Alan and I can do."

"I will. Thank you, (Y/N). Uhm, actually, she said there was a box for you back at the house. You can come by on Tuesday if you..." his voice cracks again.

"Yes, of course. Take your time, Mark. We love you and know that you and your family are in our prayers."

"Thank you, (Y/N). You were such a good friend to her." He ends the phone call.

 _Were_. After hearing those words (Y/N) broke down crying. She slid down to the floor and hugged her legs, bawling her eyes out, while trying to process the loss of her best friend.

Alan called her after receiving the news from Mark. He wanted to make sure she was okay and inquired whether she needed him and Alyson to come home. She assured him the time alone will do her good and that as long as Aly is enjoying the visit, they should stay as long as they want.

(Y/N) got up from the floor and decided to head to the kitchen to binge on Oreos and milk - one of her and Thea's favourite comfort foods. She disregards her laptop and figures her article can wait another day or two.

While laying on the king-sized bed in the master bedroom, (Y/N) scrolls through photos of her and Thea taken just mere days ago. Another wave of sobs take over her body and she eventually cries herself to sleep.

(Y/N) startles awake by hearing her phone ring under her pillow. She quickly answers while still fighting the grogginess.

"Darling, where are you?" Alan enquires over the phone.

"I'm...*sniff*...I'm at home. What do you need me for, love?" (Y/N) tries to sound brave... and awake.

"I guess I ran out of petrol on the way over to Sheila's. Would you mind terribly coming to pick us up, love? Alyson is ready for bedtime."

"...Yes, of course... But I'm telling you, Alan, we're not staying too long. I'm not in the mood for company."

Alan knows she just lost her best friend and wouldn't be in the mood for people.

"Just a quick 'hello' and then we're off - I promise, sweetheart," Alan assures.

(Y/N) begrudgingly gets up from the bed after ending their phone call and makes her way towards the en-suite bathroom. She looks in the mirror and cringes at how red and swollen her eyes are from crying the whole afternoon. She splashes her face with cold water and swiftly works to apply a cold compress to her eyes.

She re-applies her mascara afterward and quickly heads over to the walk-in closet to change out of her slacks and hoodie, into black leggings and a black and white striped tunic top. She puts on her black flats and grabs her black cross-body bag from the vanity dresser.

Before leaving the bedroom she glances at herself in the wall-length mirror. _Not my best, but appropriate under circumstances_ , she thought to herself as she gave a half-hearted twirl.

The cold air hit her in the face as she steps outside their front door and another memory of her and her best friend laughing consumes her thoughts. Small tears start to flow down her cheeks and she swallows hard to get rid of the lump in her throat. She heads back inside the house and grabs a handful of tissues from the living room coffee table.

 _Shit_. _This is gonna be difficult,_ she figures.

"Okay, (Y/N), you just need to pick them up, say 'hi' and 'bye', then come back home. No crying. Keep it together, woman," she gives herself a pep-talk and blows out an unsteady breath. She clears her throat and makes her way out the door for the second time and into her car.

On her way over to Alan's sister's place (Y/N) tries to control her thoughts in order to not think about the passing of her best friend, but couldn't help thinking about the whole situation. She fought with God for a while about why He had to take Thea at that precise moment. (Y/N) understands the process of death and is not scared of it at all. She knows Thea's time on earth was completed and she had a good life.

What still baffles her though, is how a person can be there one moment and the next they're gone. She just spoke to Thea the day prior and now there will be no more phone calls between them. How is she supposed to continue living knowing that there's always going to be a void in her life? She knows they'll reunite in the afterlife, but how long does she have to wait for that to happen?

 _Oh, God_. Her thoughts switch over to Alan.

What will happen the day he dies? He's already 69. Age was never an issue for them, but this is the first time she really spent a thought on it. How will she continue living after the day he dies? If losing Thea is hurting this much already, how much will her heartache after losing her life partner? Will she be able to sustain that much emotional pain?

And what about Alyson? Her poor baby. She'll not even be a teen by that time yet. What if she doesn't remember her father when she's grown up?

She pulls in behind Alan's Aston Martin in the driveway and sobs uncontrollably.

 _To hell with my mascara_ , she mused as she let the tears flow freely.

After several minutes of heart-wrenching crying, she wraps her arms around the steering wheel and rests her forehead atop her hands as she tries to calm herself. She takes several deep breaths and clears her throat. After all the heartache leaves her body, she grabs a tissue from her purse and fixes her face in the rearview mirror.

 _Ring. Ring. Ring_. She sees it's Alan and answers without a word.

"Honey, are you alright? You've been parked in the driveway for quite some time now."

"How did you..." she starts and looks up at the large living room window and sees Alan waving at her from inside. She gives a small chuckle and blows out a breath.

"I've had a baaaaad day, love. I just want you to hold me and tell me everything's going to be okay," her voice cracks but she's feeling emotionally drained and exhausted from crying.

"Well, why don't you come inside and I can get right on that?"

Alan opens the front door and lovingly envelopes (Y/N) as she steps up the porch stairs.

"How are you doing?" He inquires cautiously. After a minute of silence (Y/N) tightens her embrace of Alan.

"I'll be okay. Just give me a minute."

She buries her head further in the crook of his arm and her body shakes lightly. Alan rubs soothing circles on her back and holds her tighter. (Y/N) pulls back and gives a watery chuckle.

"I love you, y' know?"

"And I love you. With my whole heart, body, and mind," Alan says and pulls a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket and tenderly wipes off (Y/N)'s tear streaks, careful not to mess up her makeup. He knows she'll appreciate the gesture.

"Come on. Aly is with Sheila and the kids in the garden out back," he says as he pulls her to his side and steers her towards the back door.

"Wait," she stops in her tracks.

"Do I look okay?" she asks timidly.

"Darling, you look beautiful," he leans in and kisses her tenderly on the lips.

Once outside (Y/N) is awe-struck. It's already turned dark outside and the trees are adorned by a thousand hanging string lights giving off the effect of fireflies.

"It's beautiful!" she gasps quietly.

She notices the outside patio area in the far back of the garden also decked out in string lights and a childlike feeling of magical giddiness fills her heart. Alan places his hand on the small of her back and leads her toward the patio. While approaching the patio she stops dead in her tracks.

"No. No, are you're kidding me?" She exclaims incredulously and starts crying at seeing her own father holding her little girl in his arms.

She hasn't been able to visit her home back in South Africa in 3 years and this is only the second time her father gets to see his grandchild. She rushes over to her father and envelopes him and Aly while crying.

"Mummy, you cry?" Alyson asks.

(Y/N) lets out a watery laugh.

"Yes bubba, mummy's very happy to her daddy."

She turns around and sees her sister, Sophie, and her brother, Jake. She proceeds to hug her siblings tight in greeting while crying and looks around to see Sheila, her husband, and their three kids. She hugs them in greeting too.

"Mummyyyy," Alyson whines and stretches out her arms to (Y/N).

She takes Aly in her arms and looks over at Alan.

"How are they all here?"

"I flew them over. They landed this afternoon and will be staying with us for the week."

Alan walks over and lovingly presses a kiss against (Y/N)'s forehead.

"Happy birthday, darling," he says.

"We made all your favourite foods, too," Sophie indicates toward the set outdoor table decorated in greens and golds.

The table is laid out with beef pies, cocktail sausages and buffalo wings, lasagna, cremora tart, milktart, peppermint crisp tart, and lastly, a beautiful 3 layered carrot cake with cream cheese icing decorated with gold glitter dust.

"You guyssss," (Y/N) starts crying again and covers her face with her left hand.

She completely forgot it was her 30th birthday today. After hearing the news of her friend this afternoon, she didn't even care anymore. Alan holds her tightly until all the tears she had left was spilled.

"Thank you. I love you so much," she says as she looks up into his chestnut eyes.

The evening proceeded with everyone eating and sharing stories of past travels and future endeavors. Alyson got to know her aunt, uncle, and grandfather better and quickly won over their hearts with her winsome personality.

Although (Y/N)'s heart still bled for her friend, and thoughts about Alan dying in the future still scares her, she'd rather focus on the here and now. And spending the coming week with her family. Her _people_. (Y/N) can only be grateful for the life she's been given and to share it with the wonderful people she's been borrowed.


End file.
